A Carnival Birthday in Seattle

When your mom is a trained pastry chef and a well-known food blogger, it comes as no surprise that birthday parties in Ashley's household are full of yummy treats, colorful details, and delightful activities for the young and not-so-young invitees. This summertime birthday party had all the fixings for a backyard birthday carnival!

Decorations included a lemonade stand (built earlier in the summer by Ivy's dad), red striped tablecloths, balloons, sewn circle banners, some simple streamers, and vases of fresh flowers. Activities for the guests were set up in stations around the yard and ranged from face painting to a designated water gun zone, and balloon animals. Everyone donned white, red, orange, and teal pointed party hats and wore red clown noses.

When it came time to eat, Ashley created a simple and classic menu that highlighted hotdogs with a full condiment bar, fresh fruit, heirloom tomatoes, chocolate cupcakes, and a gorgeous stripped cake for her young daughter to blow the candles out on.

For more details about the party (including sources and recipes!), check out Not Without Salt